NO. YES! err, NO! Every UFC fight that wins PPV numbers rocks with pettiness vs. old school professionalism. Or at its best pettiness vs. pettiness as in Floyd vs. What's-His-Name, the Irish brawler.

Got it. This article gets it.

But to legitimize pettiness in this case is to legitimize and cover dangerous undercuts, clotheslines, and above-shoulder slashing elbows which, well, increases danger and undercuts the safety of all our athletes.

Right now, the national attention the cheap shots bring needs to put a clamp on what hurts others, not encourage pettiness.

Chiney is right, and well-spoken, as usual. But let's ensure the next player who undercuts, clotheslines, and uses above-shoulder slashing elbows is thrown off the court. They can be as petty as they wish on their way to the locker room and off premise.

What happened on court is not essential to a good, healthy UCONN-ND rivalry.

If D'Arcy Maine thinks increasing pettiness will increase the reach of the game, more power to her. I can say that for me, my wife and several others I know, we watch women's basketball because of the precise execution, team play and general LACK of "look at me" displayed. It is sport, but it is also performance art. If pettiness increases, it will DECREASE interest for me and I presume for many others. Adding "soap opera" to women's sports doesn't seem like a winning ingredient to me though I certainly do not have any insight into others minds. Net-net, it might be a winning combination.

I absolutely love Muffet. Who else can make me laugh so much for doing something like blocking Stewie's twitter. Every presser she does makes me giggle at how much she hates UCONN. I think she would prefer to chew off her own tongue rather than give UCONN(except Williams) an ounce of credit for the loss. God bless Muffie.

Odd how the media focuses on the talking and tweeting as if that is the whole story. I can agree to enjoy the twitter war kind of "chippiness".
What really needs to be discussed and addressed is the physical play that goes beyond "toughness" or even "chippiness" into dangerous. I see no need to allow undercutting, tripping and clotheslining. Especially not in the name of "passion" or "entertainment".

Mississippi State

If D'Arcy Maine thinks increasing pettiness will increase the reach of the game, more power to her. I can say that for me, my wife and several others I know, we watch women's basketball because of the precise execution, team play and general LACK of "look at me" displayed. It is sport, but it is also performance art. If pettiness increases, it will DECREASE interest for me and I presume for many others. Adding "soap opera" to women's sports doesn't seem like a winning ingredient to me though I certainly do not have any insight into others minds. Net-net, it might be a winning combination.

This brought to mind me watching UConn absolutely dismantle a pretty good MSU team in 2016. Once I realized the far off dream of an upset was over about 4 minutes in, I distinctly remember thinking "I'm not gonna let this beatdown get to me." I just sat back and watched one of the best college basketball teams in history work. I kept rooting for my team (and hoping UConn didn't break every NCAA tourney record imaginable against them), but I had to appreciate the precision.

I think Vic did the same thing in his own way. After getting over the loss and embarrassment, he set about becoming a better offensive coach.

Back to the pettiness point. I knew UConn would not let up until near the end in that 2016 game and that was OK. It was OK because I understood why that was important because Vic coached that way as well. Let up or not be focused in the easy ones and it'll creep into the big ones. Nope, can't do that.

It was also OK that UConn wouldn't let up in 2016 because I knew they would finish it with class and not humiliate their thoroughly defeated opponent any further. They would show respect and move on.

Tangential to this article: while I wouldn't go so far as to endorse "chippiness", I think our team could use an injection of attitude and moxie, and I think we're getting there.

I think over the last 2 years, the "practice til you can't get it wrong" mantra with this group of fairly scripted and robotic players resulted in a situation where nobody could adapt and take over when things didn't go right.

Can't manufacture pettiness and rivalries which seems like this article is calling for. Don't ask people to purposefully push a narrative if it's not there. UConn/ND is a great rivalry and if MM and GA truthfully can't stand each other, it'll come out at some point spontaneously and make the rivalry better. But if people keep calling to up the pettiness and the two end up at press conferences lobbing Yo Momma jokes at each other to please the media, then it turns into another sellout scam. Same for the players. The UFC is turning into WWE trying to manufacture story lines to drive ratings. College sports shouldn't do the same.. My .02

My son is an avid Uconn Mens basketball nut. But lately, he has been watching Uconn womens games with me, and he has been commenting on the womens games. He said that the passing is fun to watch, and he said that, in the last game, KLS out ran St Louis down the court to make a basket, even though Uconn was up by 50 points. He never sees that effort anywhere else.
My point, the women play a beautiful game and it needs no WWE pettiness to make it watchable.

Mississippi State

My son is an avid Uconn Mens basketball nut. But lately, he has been watching Uconn womens games with me, and he has been commenting on the womens games. He said that the passing is fun to watch, and he said that, in the last game, KLS out ran St Louis down the court to make a basket, even though Uconn was up by 50 points. He never sees that effort anywhere else.
My point, the women play a beautiful game and it needs no WWE pettiness to make it watchable.

MSU has a Top 25 men's team this year, but they still can't touch the women in excitement created in the fanbase. It's sad because we have a very talented group of men, but fans aren't stupid. The effort and precision that the women play with is simply a more attractive product and it makes the men's inconsistent effort and frequent low basketball IQ stand out.

Women's college basketball (like any sport) needs intense rivalries to help generate more interest in the sport. That said trying to manufacture rivalries is a non starter with me. Give me the genuine article every time. UConn/ND is becoming a genuine rivalry and doesn't need a media campaign to promote it. This is why I'm less than enthused about the renewal of the UConn-Tennessee series. The rivalry isn't there anymore, the ingredients for it simply do not exist today and IMO people are trying to beat a dead horse to life.

Like several others, I began watching women’s basketball because I felt it was the only place to see real basketball played. I like selfless play, fast ball movement, and great shooting. I appreciate it even more when it’s done by women of high character. The thing I dislike is when those with fewer skills turn to “playing physical” to cover over their inferior abilities. Of course, ESPN would love it because they trivialize all sports, which allows them to hire less knowledgeable (and generally less expensive) announcers.

In watching the replay of the 12/6/2014 UConn at ND game, during the half time show, they showed excerpts of both coaches during some press conferences concerning the "rivalry". Listening to MM and her disdain for Geno and UConn, I think I see where AO gets her attitude from.

Maestro

Apples and oranges here.
I'm not particularly interested in the pettiness issue.
If Muffit (or Geno for that matter) wants to act like a jerk to
1. fire up their team (or)
2. put buns in seats by exaggerating aspects of the rivalry.
Fine with me.

I can particularly sympathize with Muffit's plight: she is a fine coach who regularly gets outflanked by Geno's brilliance...happened again the other evening. Geno knew he had a secret weapon; Muffit didn't. Her game plan would have had to revolve around stopping the seniors and it worked reasonably well. Who could predict that a frosh guard would take over the game...er, well: Geno

But the dangerous and totally superfluous antics of that star of stage, screen and radio; Ms O, went beyond any reasonable bounds and should be called out and chastised by the coach, or failing that the AD, the university prez, or the NCAA (don't hold your breath).

That the officials overlooked two of the three dangerous incidents will only encourage the young woman to continue her bad acts.

Someone is going to get really hurt and the we'll look back at our game and realize that this bad stuff should have been nipped immediately after the initial occurrence.